ANYONE involved in some way with the Winsford Cottage Hospital was invited along to share their reminiscences with the trustees and meet old friends at a reunion garden party at Winsford..

The event had to move indoors due to the weather, but more than 25 people attended, one for the first time since she stopped working there in 1949. Several more answered the request for photos and press cuttings for the archive by mail.

Everything, from the catalogue of the sale of the Winsford Tower Estate, which took place at the White Hart, Holsworthy, in November 1933, to a nurse's apron, with Winsford embroidered in red silk, was brought through the door.

The estate was split into nine lots but there was no bid at all for Winsford Towers itself along with 48.5 acres, which was described as being in first-class repair. The present day Winsford Walled Garden was part of lot four, which also included a house, cottage, dairy and land totalling 13.75 acres, which sold for £830.

The original patients' record book was scrutinised for their own or family births. There were tales of the blizzard of February 1978 when the electricity failed and the emergency generator would not work. The blizzard raged all night and the hospital got colder and colder. By 9am it was light enough to see the snow drifts halfway up the building. Fortunately, the phone still worked and a call for help was made. A group of men appeared and jump-started the generator, but it was Wednesday before snow ploughs got through from Holsworthy and some of the staff could go home, others were marooned for six days before their access roads to home were cleared.

There were tales of the two cats that adopted the hospital as home, much to the delight of the patients and disgust of matron. One was locked in the mortuary by mistake one night and was found the next morning on top of a cadaver, seeking some human warmth. The cats were still there when the hospital closed in 1998 and were adopted by a resident of the village.

Sister Gerry Szembek, who attended the reunion, was nominated by the Winsford Hospital Action Group for a Nurse 98 Special Recognition Award. She led the team of 29 staff, who were constantly facing the threat of closure, with redundancy notices having been served three times, and actively encouraged all the staff to set aside time for team building in a social context.

The only bidders for the building in 1998 were the Hospital League of Friends who bought it for £168,000.

To learn more of the history of the building and of its architect CFA Voysey, go to http://www.winsfordtrust.org.uk">www.winsfordtrust.org.uk This will also give details of forthcoming events at the Winsford Centre.